Reign of the Homunculus
by Panory Bro
Summary: Rather than run away, Greed convinces the other Homunculi to rebel against Father and pursue their own goals. As a result, Amestris spends a century openly ruled by the seven Homunculi.
1. Chapter 1

Reign of the Homunculus

Chapter 1

Greed had lived his life following orders for a long time, about a century in fact. Only Pride and Lust had been around longer than him. He didn't mind it at first. Father wanted the world and everything in it, and so did Greed. Their goals aligned, and so Greed did as he was told, creating Philosopher's Stones, amassing power, and inching ever closer to having everything.

Then came Wellesley. Greed, Lust, and Envy had been sent to instigate a border war in order to carve a bloody mark into the land for the nationwide transmutation circle. Something about it rubbed Greed the wrong way. It was in his nature to want everything, and killing people, seeing things that he might have owned lost forever, made him both sad and furious. And worst of all, he didn't even know why.

The homunculi were afforded great freedom and movement until Father needed them, which gave Greed plenty of time to search for answers. And of course, the first person he turned to was his older brother of sorts. The one who had been around the longest. Pride. The two met at sunset in Central, which Pride was actually forbidden to leave. Greed had been there for an hour, staring at the setting sun.

"What have you called me here for, Greed?" asked Pride. "I can't be gone long, or people will start to suspect things. I have a cover to maintain." Greed smirked a bit, reminded that Pride was forced to pretend to be a mere human child, playing house all day with the current Wrath and a human mother.

"I'll skip the formalities then. I want answers." said Greed, not bothering to turn around. "What does the Nationwide Transmutation Circle do?"

"Why do you want to know?" asked Pride. Greed could hear the skepticism dripping from his voice.

"I'm helping to build the thing, and I'm greedy. I want money, power, women, and everything else in the world." said Greed, clenching his fists in determination. "I want to know how this will get me closer to my goal."

"Hmph. Very well." said Pride. "The Nationwide Transmutation Circle will, when completed, sacrifice the lives of all the humans living in this country, or rather what this country will be then, to create a Philosopher's Stone with massive power. Father will use this power to absorb God himself, and attain ultimate power, true immortality, and learn the Truth."

Greed scoffed. "That all? Thanks Pride. Might not help me much, but at least I know now."

"You're welcome. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get home in time for dinner." said Pride, almost gagging the mundane curfew.

"Hold on." said Greed, finally turning to face his older brother. "I have one more question for you." Greed could tell Pride was beginning to get annoyed, but he wasn't stopping Greed. "What's your goal?"

"Excuse me?" asked Pride, seemingly taken aback by the innocuous question.

"I asked what your goal was. I'm Greed. I'm greedy. I desire everything this world has to offer. So what does Pride want out of his immortal existence?"

Pride blinked several times, looking down at his feet in confusion. "I… I had never considered personal goals. Everything has been for Father's plans. For the Nationwide Transmutation Circle." Several second passed. "Though… I suppose it would be nice to let the world know what I am. To be openly known as Pride. To be proud of my power, my immortality, instead of parading around as _Selim_." Pride spit his human alias as if the very word was disgusting to him.

"Heh, glad to hear it. It's good to have goals." said Greed with a smile on his face. "Though that's not the kind of goal you can accomplish while working for Father."

"What are you implying?" asked Pride, his eyes narrowing dangerously. Greed repressed the urge to swallow nervously. He had known Pride was Father's most devout follower. Simply running would have been far safer, far easier, but he had hatched this dumb plan, and he was determined to see it through.

"I'm implying that neither of us can get what we want by following Father's plan. Hell, working for him benefits none of us homunculi." said Greed. "If we were to get rid of him though, every last one of us could pursue our desires."

"Are you seriously suggesting we kill Father?" asked Pride incredulously. The eldest homunculus hadn't impaled Greed with a million living shadows yet, which was definitely a positive.

"Why not?" questioned Greed rhetorically. "What do we owe him?"

"Our existence." said Pride, dead serious.

"So what? We are to follow his every order simply because humans obey the ones who created them?" questioned Greed, getting more passionate as he felt Pride wavering. "We are the first homunculi. We define how homunculi treat their creators."

Pride hesitated for a split second before replying. "Even if you say that, Father is stronger than us. Trying to kill him would only end in our deaths. You can't have everything in the world if you're dead."

Greed grimaced at the thought of his dream being lost to him forever before steeling his resolve. "Maybe not just us, but what about the rest? With you, me, Lust, Wrath, Sloth, Gluttony, and Envy, we should be able to do it." Seeing the doubt in Pride's face, Greed made to reassure him. "You don't have to do anything different. I'll talk to our brothers and sister. If even one of them is against it, I'll drop this whole idea."

"Very well. If you can convince the rest of our siblings, you'll have my support." said Pride. "I really must be going now. I'd invite you for dinner, but Mother likes me to call ahead when bringing over friends." Greed chuckled at his brother's joke as the shorter homunculus walked away to go eat his veggies.

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Lust had been hard to convince, but she loved toying with humans, so it only took a night of convincing to get her to agree that killing all the humans would make the world terribly dull. Like Pride, she only agreed on the condition that Greed get the other four homunculi on board.

Envy had been all for it once he learned that Pride, Lust, and Greed were all for it. He was jealous of the combat prowess of his older siblings, and it had at some point manifested into a kind of adoration and belief that they were unbeatable and always right.

Gluttony had been even easier. While Greed wasn't one to badmouth family, Gluttony wasn't the brightest of the seven, and was eager to please his siblings, particularly Lust. The two other instigators were incredibly close for some reason Greed couldn't figure out.

Wrath's desires were similar enough to Greed's and convincing the Führer President was easier than setting up a meeting with the undercover Homunculus. All it took was the promise of free reign over the military and the warlike man had been sold. Father enjoyed holding Wrath back to prevent complications, and it seemed that in itself had created a complication.

All that was left was Sloth. The worst part would be getting to the lazy homunculus, since going through the tunnels in central would be a great way to alert Father to his intentions. While Greed had plenty of excuses for seeing his brethren in Central, there was no excuse that would justify dropping in on Sloth. And so that's how Greed found himself in Wellesley, digging a hole in the ground, hoping to intercept Sloth as he dug beneath Greed's feet.

"Hey, you do know we're trying to build houses, not dig holes, yeah?" asked a deep voice behind Greed. So far the Homunculus had managed to avoid contact with the humans rebuilding after he and his siblings had instigated a border war. As long as he had some kind of tool and looked busy, people just assumed he was helping out with reconstruction and left him alone.

Turning to tell the man that he was indeed helping out by digging a large hole straight down for seemingly no reason, Greed's words stopped dead in his throat. "F-f-f-father?" managed to squeak out. If Father had somehow found out what he was doing and tracked him down, he was dead, regeneration or no. And the man standing before him was certainly Father. The same face, the same beard, the same golden eyes. They were identical in every way.

"Father? I don't have any kids. I'm a tad insulted you think I'm that old actually." said the man who looked like Father as he exasperatedly rubbed the back of his neck. Now that Greed looked closer, there was no recognition in this man's eyes, no gravitas in his actions. As much as he looked like the man who created Greed, he wasn't.

"M-my bad." stammered Greed. "You just looked a lot like someone I know." Clearing his throat, Greed regained his composure. "Anyways, I'm digging a deep hole. Trying to find a tunnel down here."

"Oh, well there's no need to go digging the old fashioned way. Let me help you with that." replied the man as he knelt down and gestured for Greed to get out of the sizable hole he had already dug. "Oh yeah, I suppose I should introduce myself. Name's Hohenheim." With that, Hohenheim placed one hand on the ground, and a perfectly circular hole sank down a fair ways.

"Hey, old man, was that alchemy?" asked Greed, perplexed. He wasn't an alchemist himself, but the concept of Equivalent Exchange and transmutation circles were things even he understood, and this stranger had just ignored both.

"I told you, I'm not that old." protested Hohenheim. "But I am an alchemist. Just helping out with reconstruction around here. Alchemy's good at fixing things." With that, Hohenheim held his hand out to shake hands. Enjoying the man's help and company, Greed reached out to grasp and shake.

The moment they touched hands, Greed felt an overwhelming power, exactly like Father's. It was clear Hohenheim felt something similar, as the jovial light in his eyes died immediately, replaced by the eyes of a killer. "What are you?" asked Hohenheim, dead serious.

Too taken aback to even think of turning the question around, Greed replied honestly. "I'm Greed, one of the homunculus."

"One of?" asked Hohenheim, as if he knew exactly what a homunculus was, and the existence of one didn't faze him at all.

"Okay, who _are_ you?" asked Greed. He hated not knowing. Knowledge was one of the things in this world, and being reminded that he didn't have everything in the world annoyed him more than anything else.

Hohenheim looked down at the Seal of Ouroboros on Greed's hand before responding. "As I said before, my name is Van Hohenheim. And I'm a Philosopher's Stone in human form."

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"So my old man stole his design from you because you basically created him, huh?" mused Greed, trying to digest Hohenheim's story. "So does that make you my grandfather?"

"Well maybe we could go with uncle." replied Hohenheim. "Grandfather makes me feel old."

"You ARE old!" shouted Greed, before sighing. "Welp, that feels like Sloth all right. Ready to meet my brother Gramps?" Without waiting to see how Hohenheim would respond, Greed leapt down the hole he (mostly Hohenheim) had dug.  
Greed dusted off his jacket as Hohenheim landed beside him. "So where is your brother?" asked Hoehenheim, tilting his head slightly in curiosity.

Before Greed could explain what the vibrations meant, or why Sloth was underground digging a tunnel, the Homunculus in question burst through the side of the hole. The giant looked around in confusion. "I'm not done yet… Why am I outside?" looking down, Sloth noticed Greed and Hohenheim. "Oh, Greed... and Father… Do you have something you need to tell me? Because I need to get back to work, even though it's a pain."

"He's also a homunculus?" asked Hohenheim incredulously. "How many of you _are_ there?"

"Later, not now old man." muttered Greed. "Sloth, I've been talking with the others, and we've all come to an agreement. You hate working, right?"

"It's a pain…" replied Sloth.

Greed smirked. "So why are you digging this tunnel then, if it's not something you want to do?"

"Father said to." said Sloth simply.

"And why do you do what Father says?" asked Greed, his grin widening. Sloth silence answered Greed's question just as it had with the other five Homunculus. None of them had questioned why they did what Father told them to, merely accepting it as the way things worked. "If we work together, we can get rid of Father. Then we can do whatever we want. Help us now, and you never have to work a day in your life again."

"That sounds… nice… but why are you saying this in front of Father?" said Sloth, looking over at Hohenheim.

"Ah, I'm not your Father, he just modeled his appearance after me because I gave up the blood needed to create him. I guess that makes me kind of like your guys' uncle." said Hohenheim.

"More like a grandpa, if you ask me." interjected Greed, much Hohenheim's chagrin. "So what do you say Sloth? Are you in or out?"

"Working like this… it is a real pain… and you are my brother… okay…" said Sloth.

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"So you plan on killing the Dwarf in the Flask?" asked Hohenheim as he sealed up the hole once more.

"Who?" asked Greed.

"Ah, I suppose he would have stopped calling himself that." mused Hohenheim. "The one you call Father, that was his name before."

"Oh. Well, intend to try." Greed sighed. "Hopefully all seven of us are enough."

"Greed and Sloth are two of seven, huh?" mused Hohenheim. "Am I right in assuming the other five are Pride, Gluttony, Envy, Lust, and Wrath?"

Greed laughed. "Got it in one old man. Named after the Seven Deadly Sins, which we perfectly personify."

"And after you kill him, then what?" inquired Hohenheim.

"Pursue our own goals. Sloth will probably do nothing forever. Pride intends to assume Father's rule as the real ruler of Amestris. Wrath is honestly pretty happy where he is and is just fighting with us to keep the status quo. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what Lust will do. Gluttony's probably gonna hang around her like he does anyways. Envy's a wildcard, but he's a pretty harmless one." said Greed, ticking each of his siblings on his fingers. "And as for me, I'm Greed. I'm greedy. I want money, women, status, fame, and everything else in this world."

"I'm still not convinced that I should help literal sins rule the world." said Hohenheim darkly.

Greed laughed. "We not may be good, but we're not so bad either. No worse than any human. For example, humans think greed is just for money and power, but everyone wants something. It's what lets them strive for more, and makes them protect what they have."

Hohenheim tossed his head back and laughed. "I suppose that's true! Hell, you're all only one of the sins every human has, so in a way you're even better than humans!" calming down a bit, Hohenheim looked at Greed. "And I can't say I condone what this Father is doing. I'm no fighter, but I'm a damn good alchemist. If you want my help taking him down, you're welcome to it."

Greed's eyes widened behind his sunglasses in shock. "Heh. I suppose eight have a better chance than seven. Much appreciated Gramps."

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"You know, I've always found it sort of morbidly funny how simple we are to kill."

"What do you want Greed?" asked Father irritably. Greed had been acting suspicious for some time now, and his recent trips weren't making him any more trustworthy.

Ignoring his creator's query, Greed continued. "We regenerate from any injury, no matter how sever, but there are limits to our Philosopher's Stones. So you just have to kill us over and over again. But you know what I find even more hilarious?"

Squinting as he decided to humor the homunculus, Father replied. "And what would that be?"

"You're just the same as us." That was all the warning Father had before the back of his throne practically exploded. On reflex, Father deflected the black arm with a barrier of alchemy. Turning his head, he saw Greed fly back, coated head to toe in his ultimate shield.

"So you've decided to try and kill me? Foolish. My powers far outweigh your own." No sooner had Father finished than several spikes made from the floor beneath him shot up to impale him. The flash of alchemy gave him enough warning to deconstruct the rock spikes just in time.

"Well then it's inconvenient for you that we're evenly matched in terms of raw power then." Father whipped his head around to see Van Hohenheim standing in the entrance of his throne room.

"Hohenheim. I must say I'm surprised to see you and Greed working together. I never told the children of their grandfather." Hohenheim's brow furrowed at being called a grandfather, and he silently launched several large earthen dragons.

Father responded in kind, casually knocking back Greed's attempt to take off his head at the same time. The two waves of rocky dragons collided, kicking up and veritable explosion of dust and debris. Father barely had time to take half a step back in surprise before his arms were sliced clean off by the two figures that shot from the cloud of dust. Repelling the follow up attacks with alchemy as his body regenerated, Father recognized the two figures as Lust and Wrath blades swinging alongside Lust's Ultimate Spear. It appeared that Greed's little rebellion had more supporters than he had initially thought. Before he could gather his thoughts, a powerful blow from behind took off his head far faster than he could react. As his head regenerated, drawing even more power from his Philosopher's stone, Father's newly formed eyes saw Sloth pulling his head out of the wall he had run into.

"How many of my children have you turned against me Hohenheim?" asked Father, blocking further barrages from his doppelganger. Focused as he was on the four attackers in front of him as he was, Father was taken surprised slightly by the voice that rang out behind him.

"I'm disappointed in them to be honest. It's only natural to follow one's father. Do they have no pride?" Turning to look, Father saw the eldest homunculus standing over a beaten Greed.

"Good job Pride. Now if you could-urgh!" Father was cut off by the blades of shadow that sliced into his body. "What?! Why?"

"Honestly, how could I follow a father who doesn't recognize his own children?" asked Pride as his body was coated in red lighting for a moment, revealing Envy with a shit eating grin on his face. The act over, Greed sat up as well. Before Father could trace the shadows back to Pride, more blades of shadow shot out of the blades already piercing him. To inflict as much damage as possible, the blades then began to spin rapidly, shredding Father from the inside out.

As the chunks fell to the ground, the air around them began to warp. In an instant, the chunks of Father and the evidence of the battle around them was gone, in their place a furrow carved into the ground. Gluttony walked out of the darkness of the entryway, Pride sitting on his shoulder. "I'm still really hungry…" said Gluttony as his stomach closed back up, looking rather dejected at how unsatisfying his meal had been.

"Look out!" shouted Pride, eyes widening. His shadows leapt into action, throwing Greed and Envy back as grasping hands seemingly made of the same stuff as Pride's shadows tried ot grab them. It was far from a graceful toss, and both thrown homunculi skidded to a stop rather painfully.

As the eight watched in horror, shadows that looked similar to Pride's, covered in mouths and eyes, congealed together, forming a humanoid body. "Well, you're all rather disobedient children, aren't you?" the shadow being said with Father's voice.

"So this is your true form, eh?" asked Hohenheim. "I must say, I'm a little glad you aren't me anymore. That's a pretty nostalgic look for you though. A little less cute than when you were in the flask if you ask me."

Father grimaced in anger at Hohenheim's jabs. "Joke all you want Hohenheim, but this form is superior to the one I borrowed from you all those years ago in every way."

"You say that, but how much is left in you Philosopher's Stone?" questioned Lust.

"You've lived this long, used alchemy often, and created all of us." said Pride.

"I know firsthand the limits of your stone, and I've felt how much each of your 'children' was given." said Hohenheim. "With the amount of alchemy you've no doubt done over the years, you must be running on empty right about now."

Father's frown answered for them. "Maybe I am running out of souls in my philosopher's stone, but luckily I've made a few spares." With that, small pockets of shadow Father had split from his real body enveloped the seven homunculus and drew them into his main body with startling speed. Hohenheim barely had time to be surprised. "After all, good children are always willing to make sacrifices for their father." As he spoke, the veins of the seven homunculus throbbed and pulsed red as the souls of their cores were sucked back into Father, causeing his children to panic.

"Of course, good fathers are always expected to provide for their children." said Greed, calming down and replacing his fear with a huge smirk. "As it stands I'm way better at taking things from others!" The flow of souls began to reverse, and now it was Father's turn to panic. Now that the act was over, Hohenheim watched on impassively as Father's shadowy form grew smaller and smaller as the homunculi absorbed their own father.

"No, no, no no no!" shouted Father, growing more and more desperate as he grew smaller and smaller. "I created you! I am your father!"

"A rather poor excuse for a father." said Wrath.

"One who uses us as mere tools to further his own goals." added Pride.

"One who purposely made us imperfect to make yourself better." spat Envy.

"Not letting us pursue our own goals, instead working for yours." said Lust.

"Don't worry though." Finished Greed as Father was reduced to a single eye's size and continued shrinking. "We'll be sure to let you see the future your children create through us. And what self-respecting Father wouldn't want to die saving his children's future?"

As Father was completely absorbed by his children, Pride stared at his own hand in wonder. "This is only a seventh of his power?!"

Hohenheim approached from behind and placed a hand on Pride's shoulder. "Yep, he killed an entire country to create himself and me." Pride looked up at Hohenheim with wide eyes, realizing that this unassuming man had seven times as much power as he himself had. He had known earlier of course, but until he had felt the kind of power Father had, Pride hadn't truly grasped how much that really was. "Welp, have fun ruling the world or whatever." With that, Hohenheim turned to walk away, breaking the other homunculi out of their contemplation of the much greater power they now possessed.

Greed recovered first, grinning in pure joy at the power he now had. "Thanks for the tip on absorbing the old man, Uncle! Really owe you one for that! Feel free to swing by Central any time!" Turned away as he was, none of the homunculi could see Hohenheim's small smile.

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 **A/N: So you know what happens when you watch all of Brotherhood in a week? You get writer's block on your other story and a billion ideas for FMA stories. Hopefully this crazy idea of Greed not just running but instead leading his siblings in revolution was enough to get words flowing for other stories and crap. I do have other ideas for this, so it might continue. May as well clarify stuff now. This takes place ~100 years before the birth of Ed and Al. I'm operating under the assumption Wrath has always been an aging homunculus, so the Wrath in this story is the previous Wrath before King Bradley. Feel free to ask any other question you have and I'll answer them in the next chapter, whenever that is. As always reviews are appreciated. See ya!**


	2. Chapter 2

Reign of the Homunculus

Chapter 2

Roy Mustang rubbed his thumb across the shiny silver pocket watch that signaled his newfound position as a state alchemist. More importantly, is symbolized the first massive step on his climb to the top. With this, he was equal to a Major in the army. Seven promotions left until he stood at the top of this country assuming he took it one rank at a time, which he didn't intend to.

"Congratulations on your promotion Roy." Mustang turned his head to see a familiar face.

"Hughes!" exclaimed Mustang at the sight of his old friend. "I didn't know you got transferred to Central."

"Yep, along with a promotion to Captain while you were off at you mentor's funeral. I finally got a leg up on you and you come back by jumping straight to Major with that alchemy of yours." Said Hughes, smiling at the sight of his old Academy friend. "Though if I'm remembering what you've told me about Mr. Hawkeye, didn't he hate the military? I have a hard time believing he'd give you such powerful alchemy knowing you'd joined the military."

"He didn't, but the person he trusted his research to has fewer reservations I guess." explained Roy. "As for why I'm using it in a way he wouldn't approve of… there are somethings that can only be changed from within, and I need power to get to the top."

"Aiming for a promotion to general, huh?" mused Hughes. "Guess it doesn't hurt to aim high."

Mustang grinned and shook his head. "Close, but think one step higher." Hughes looked confused for a second, before his eyes widened in realization.

"One step up? But the only person higher than General is Lord Wrath. Are you planning a coup or something?" asked Hughes incredulously. "Are you crazy?"

"Not quite." said Mustang. Sensing Hughes' confusion, he decided to explain himself. "Have you noticed that Lord Wrath is a bit older than he was when we first joined the Academy? And if you listen to older people's descriptions of him, he changed rather drastically thirty years or so ago. Get it yet?"

"Not really." admitted Hughes. "I mean, Lord Envy changes appearance every other day or so."

Mustang sighed. "That's what Lord Envy does though. And Lord Wrath has never done anything like that before. If we're being honest…" Mustang lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "… I don't think Lord Wrath is a homunculus. I think it's a title that's passed down. And if Lord Wrath is human, he's getting along in years. And we look similar enough. All I have to do now is prove myself worthy before he kicks the bucket."

"That's…" Hughes was going to say crazy, before he thought about it. Everyone knew the homunculi didn't age, evidenced by Fuhrer Pride's absurdly youthful appearance. But Lord Wrath did seem to get older at an average human pace. "What the hell?"

"It's not important is what it is. All that matters is that the position is going to open up sooner or later, and I'm going to be there to snap it up." said Mustang, eyes burning with determination. "Anyways, why not celebrate this new watch, huh? See if I sacrificed my ability to pick up chicks for my alchemy."

Hughes laughed at the suddenly lighter topic. "A throwback to our old Academy days, huh? Alright, I'm game."

"Brilliant." said Mustang, looking forward to catching up with his oldest friend. "I believe we would need some flowers for such an endeavor."

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"Dammit, how have reinforcements not gotten here yet?" cursed Jean Havoc. The trenches were deep enough to prevent most stray bullets from connecting, but mortar fire was a nightmare, and Havoc's squad had been decimated trying to hold the line against the Aerugonian forces.

The invasion of Aerugo had gone well enough until the Amestrian forces hit a wall, figuratively and literally, at the Aerugonian capital. The wall was tall and strong, built specifically in case of an invasion from Amestris. It was no secret the country was strongly expansionist, driven by Lord Greed's desire to possess the world and Lord Wrath's love of war itself. The conquest of Creta had kept them occupied for a few decades, hardening their soldiers and chain of command in combat against a vastly inferior enemy. Aerugo, in sharp contrast, had been preparing to repel Amestris for all those years, turning their powerful trade economy to war.

Despite those preparations, the Amestrian forces emerged victorious in the field every time, an effort spearheaded by the power of the State Alchemists. Particularly the Alchemists known most commonly as the Red Devils, two alchemists whose alchemy was particularly suited for combat and destruction. Having either of them would be really helpful right about now, but they had supposedly been called away to help deal with Aerugonian reinforcements that had been spotted coming from the south yesterday, and the siege division was stretched too thin to storm the walls.

Havoc cursed under his breath again as a mortar shell exploded near enough for him to feel the heat. "Sir, reinforcements inbound!" reported the communications member assigned to Havoc's squad. Havoc allowed himself to breathe a sigh of relief at the welcome news.

"Alright men, we just need to hold out a bit longer!" barked Havoc.

"Actually Lieutenant, prepare your men to take that wall." Havoc wheeled around to see a dark haired man in military uniform pulling on a pair of white gloves. Beside him stood another person with long black hair tied back in a ponytail.

"I'll take down that wall if you buy me some cover, Mustang." said the second man, rolling his wrists. The action gave Havoc a good view of the alchemy circles tattooed on the palms of his hands.

"Fair enough Kimblee. I probably won't let you get shot." said the man Havoc now identified as Colonel Mustang, the Flame Alchemist and one half of the Red Devils. Mustang peered over the edge of the trench, looking at the wall for a second before raising his right hand, which let Havoc see the bright red circle transcribed on the back.

"Lieutenant, you and your men need to be prepared to secure the breach." Havoc frantically nodded to the communications officer, who put out the order to prepare a charge once the wall was breached. Nodding as the order was conveyed, Mustang snapped his singers with an almost painfully loud snap, and what looked like red lightning arced towards the wall. Almost instantly, the top of the wall and every opening for gunfire in sight on the face of the wall exploded in flames. The second Mustang had snapped his fingers, Kimblee leaped over the lip of the trench and rushed at the wall at a dead sprint. Obscured by the debris of Mustang's distraction, Havoc couldn't see what Kimblee did, but whatever it was resulted in a large section for the wall violently exploding. Not needing any confirmation that was the signal, Havoc gave the command to charge for the soldiers who didn't figure it out on their own.

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Wrath stalked through the halls of the Aerugonian palace, flanked by the Red Devils who had breached the wall and ended what had been a frustratingly long siege and several other high ranking officers. By conventional standards the siege had been over quickly, but it was the longest to date anyone had ever stalled the Amestrian war machine.

Wrath mulled over the next steps of his plan as he went to meet with the former Prince of Aerugo. Now that Amestris possessed access to the sea, it would need to build up a Navy. The main army would likely appreciate the period of peace after the war to recuperate. More importantly, it meant Greed would have the full force of the Amestrian army on hand during the pacification campaign. It would be inconvenient to be forced to return to Amestris in the middle of his next campaign, especially considering how delicate the early stages were. Five years or so should be enough time to prepare his forces.

Opening the doors, Wrath stepped into the ceremonial throne room as a man with a purpose. "Claudio Rico. By right of conquest, Amestris now claims the land formerly known as Aerugo. You may resist, in which case my men will shoot you down where you stand. Or you may comply, and you will be escorted to Central City as a representative of the Amestrian province of Aerugo. I am not a patient man, so if it's not too much trouble, I'd like your answer now."

Head hung in defeat, the deposed prince spoke to the leader of the Amestrian military. "It is a royal's duty to serve his people. It's clear to me that the only way for me to do that in any capacity is on your terms."

"A wise decision." said Wrath, gesturing for two of the soldiers with them to escort the former Prince away. "Men, close the doors and get to work securing the palace. I'd like to have a conversation with Mr. Kimblee and Mr. Mustang."

Saluting immediately, the remaining soldiers closed the large throne room doors on their way out. Wrath approached the Aerugonian throne, placing a hand solemnly on the back of the fancy chair before turning to face the two alchemists. "Well then, what I'm about to tell you is a government secret of the highest order. If you spread this around, I will personally make sure it spreads no further. If you don't have the courage to bear this responsibility, you're welcome to leave now."

Both alchemists didn't move a muscle, and Wrath smiled at their courage as he took off his eyepatch. Public speculation was that Wrath wore the eyepatch as an aesthetic choice, as there couldn't be anything wrong with his eye. That all homunculi possessed a potent regenerative factor was common knowledge. Mustang secretly suspected that it was more proof that Wrath wasn't actually a homunculus. When Wrath opened his eye, Mustang could barely contain his shock.

The eye was clearly damaged, with some scarring around it, but rather than Wrath's other eye which possessed a regular iris and pupil, his left eye was pure white, with the blood red Seal of Ouroboros being the only mark. This destroyed Mustang's ambitions. If Wrath possessed the seal, then he truly was a homunculus, and that meant Mustang's master plan to take over the position of Wrath was impossible.

"You may have noticed that I don't appear as young as I used to. Sadly, this is neither by choice, nor merely cosmetic. Unlike the other homunculi, the original Wrath was different." Mustang had many questions, but the look on Wrath's face told him to hold his questions. "Unlike the others, created from scratch, Wrath used a human body as a base. Because of this, he wasn't able to regenerate as the others, and he aged normally. About twenty five years ago, Wrath's core, which makes him a homunculus, was passed on to me."

Mustang's eye widened at the implications. Wrath wasn't human, but he did age, and presumably die. "There's a program in Central which trains people from a young age to succeed the position of Wrath. It is more than likely that my successor will come have been raised from birth in that program. However, as Wrath, I have some say in who will succeed me. I prefer someone known by the army for a smooth transition, someone with actual hands-on experience. There will be roughly five years before the next campaign. Should you be willing to risk your life, I am willing to pull some strings to place both of you in that program for those five years."

Mustang couldn't believe his ears. He had planning a slow climb up the ranks over decades, and Lord Wrath was just offering to place him (and Kimblee) on the fast track to achieving his dream. "It would be an honor sir!" said Mustang, trying to contain his excitement.

"I suppose I need something to do for those five years anyways." remarked Kimblee with a nonchalant shrug. "Sign me up, I suppose."

Wrath smiled gently, placing a hand on both their shoulders. "Well then gentlemen, I'll see you in five years." With a sharp chopping motion to the side of their necks, both Roy and Kimblee fell to the ground unconscious.

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Mustang and Kimblee were military men, and were in rather fit condition. However, "Wrath Camp" as the two alchemists had taken to calling their newfound hell was a harsh reminder that alchemists were nerdy book readers first, and athletic medal winners second. It didn't help that all the other people in the program were comparatively heartless and had been trained on this regimen from a young age, making the two Red Devils look pathetic by comparison.

Being in the program from birth had also stunted the other candidates for the position of Wrath socially in some way, which meant Kimblee and Mustang had only each other for stimulating conversation. The two weren't actually that close, mostly being grouped together due to the similarities of their alchemy. But the two found themselves relying on each other more and more often, until most outsiders would classify them as friends, albeit rather vitriolic ones.

Perhaps the worst part was the sword training. As Wrath's traditional weapon, all the candidates were expected to practically be savants with bladed weapons. Again, being paired up against the men raised in the program was a never ending conga line of humiliation, though the two alchemists were getting better. Kimblee had it the worse of the two though. Roy was still able to use his left glove to create flames, which were helpful even though most of his opponents were fast enough to dodge the explosions effortlessly. Kimblee needed both hands to use his alchemy, something rendered impossible by the sword gripped tightly in his right hand.

"Say, Kimblee?" asked Roy during one of the rare breaks in the near constant physical and mental exercises. "How exactly does your alchemy work? I'm never really able to figure out what you use to make stuff explode."

Kimblee scoffed. "You're one to talk. You just snap and things blow up. I suppose mine is pretty odd though." Kimblee held up his hands so Roy could see the twin transmutation circles tattooed on his palms. "So you know that transmutation circles draw power from tectonic shifts in the Earth, and use that to break down and reform matter. My alchemy just skips the matter."

"What? I always figured you just used small amounts of chemicals in the environment to make chemical explosions or something." said Roy.

Kimblee laughed. "Nope, I just use pure energy. See the symbols in the circles? I won't give away everything, but the moon and sun are conflicting symbols, as are the triangles facing opposite directions. Those contradicting symbols bounce the energy back and forth. It gets more and more unstable, until finally… boom." Kimblee said, flexing his fingers to mimic an explosion. "Huh, it's kind of weird to explain alchemy without breaking it all down and getting technical."

"I think it might just be your weird alchemy." said Roy with a grin. "I've never had trouble explaining mine to even children."

"Oh really?" asked Kimblee, raising an eyebrow skeptically. "I'd like to see Mr. Snap-Boom break down his alchemy into children terms."

Roy laughed at that, always excited at the prospect of a challenge. "Alright then. Well the first thing to understand is that the air we breathe has a lot of oxygen in it." Roy laughed harder when he saw Kimblee's face pale at the implications. "Oxygen is a very flammable gas when you get a lot of it together. My alchemy just manipulates the density of the oxygen in the air, and makes a thin path to the tip of my fingers. My gloves are made from a special material that creates sparks when I rub it against itself. Spark to fuel source… boom." explained Mustang, mimicking Kimblee's earlier finger explosion.

"Oh my god." said Kimblee, burying his head in his hands. "That's so obvious. How on Earth did I miss something so _obvious_?"

Roy smirked at his friend's distress. "Probably because it's complicated as all hell to understand the chemical compositions of the air around you. You ever try to use alchemy on air? Not easy."

Kimblee sighed, picking up his sword as he made to leave for his next inevitable loss. "It must be nice to be able to use your alchemy with one hand." he mused.

"Why not just inscribe the circle on your blade? It works for my gloves." suggested Roy.

"Because, the full circle has no control. It just builds up energy until it randomly explodes." sighed Kimblee. "There's a good reason I have the circle in two halves on both hands."

"What about inscribing just the half on your right hand?" countered Roy. "Slapping your sword in the heat of battle would be difficult, but a hell of a lot easier than sheathing your sword and clapping."

Drawing the sword, Kimblee held it up to his hand. "Too thin. Maybe if I got a wider sword, but as it is now there would be a hell of a rebound if I tried to use it."

"Let's see about getting a bigger sword for you later. Right now it's time to lose horribly again." said Mustang, getting up and strapping his own standard issue sword to his belt.

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 **A/N: Short chapter of Mustang and the military as a whole. Next chapter will have us catching up with the Elrics. Shoot me any questions about this if you want. To answer questions I've already gotten though…**

 **Yes, as you can see we still have King Bradley, though he just goes by Wrath in this story since the Homunculi aren't trying to stay secret. Without the need to keep the country a circle and keep bloodshed on and in the borders though, Amestris has been rather peaceful internally and very expansionist in nature. They already control their western neighbor, and have just conquered the country to the south as of this chapter. Obviously the State Alchemist program is still around, though it's a tad different. I plan to delve into that in the next chapter though. I have also never seen the 2003 anime, so any references to that are either very particular scenes or complete coincidence.**

 **So I might work some more on this fic, because there are a lot of ideas in my head for it, or I might force myself to rewrite the next chapter of "The Sannin's Apprentice" since I'm not happy with how it is right now. Who knows? Either way, thanks for reading and reviews are always appreciated.**


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